This Week in Home Video: ‘Life of Crime,’ ‘The Complete Jacques Tati’ and More

This Week in Home Video: 'Life of Crime,' 'The Complete Jacques Tati' and More

Slow week on the new release front, but there are a couple of films worth seeking out. The best bet is probably the solid Elmore Leonard adaptation “Life of Crime,” a “Jackie Brown” prequel (or prequel to the original novel “Rum Punch,” anyway) featuring strong work from John Hawkes and Jennifer Aniston, taking a rare break from mainstream comedy to turn in some of the strongest work of her career.

Otherwise, fans of John Carney’s musical romance “Once” might want to check out “Begin Again,” which sees the director in similar territory in a romance between songwriter Keira Knightley and music producer Mark Ruffalo. Both films are better bets than the other releases this week: the preposterous exorcism/cop film “Deliver Us From Evil,” Zac Braff’s “Garden State” follow-up “Wish I Was Here” and James Franco’s ill-advised adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “Child of God.”

The classic releases this week are a bit more robust, with the highlight undoubtedly being Criterion’s “The Complete Jacques Tati” Blu-Ray box set. Fans can marathon some of the greatest comedies ever made, including “M. Hulot’s Holiday,” “Mon Oncle” and “Play Time,” as well as less-heralded efforts like “Trafic” and “Parade.” Horror fans, meanwhile, can prepare for Halloween by picking up Criterion’s Blu-Ray update of George Sluizier’s chilling “The Vanishing” or Kino’s release of “Planet of Vampires.” And while this writer is with Indiewire’s Greg Cwik on Clive Barker’s “Nightbreed,” the new release of the Director’s Cut from Scream! Factory finally makes available the version director Clive Barker and his fans always wanted.

Yet it works significantly better than more mainstream productions because of the legitimacy its actors bring to the project. Knightley’s sorrowful state plays nicely off Ruffalo’s sputtering showbiz enthusiasm. His character’s own background would strain from contrived ingredients if it weren’t so credibly embodied…Read more.

The book simply doesn’t offer anything of interest that can be externalized and photographed, unless one is fascinated by ranting and gibbering. What’s left in the absence of McCarthy’s prose is a sincere but fundamentally pointless ode to a madman, which does little more than invite viewers to gawk at the unspeakable. Read more.

“Deliver Us From Evil” flirts with an interesting subtext, briefly suggesting that trauma is the real malevolent spirit that possesses people—especially cops and soldiers, who witness atrocities they can’t un-witness; the darkness of their work creeping inside of them. But the film turns out to be more concerned with generic concepts of good versus evil, the usual Biblical battle these movies reenact, one demonic expulsion at a time. Read more.

Aniston is the trophy wife — a trophy that is getting a little tired of the drunken lout who thinks he deserves her — and she’s a good, flinty presence. (She’s so much better when she stays away from rom-coms). Read more.

Braff’s film is sincere down to its toes, expressing in forthright ways, over and over, the importance of seizing the day and being true to yourself but also being of some practical and emotional use to your loved ones. The movie is everything but funny or interesting. The actors, particularly Patinkin and Gad, bring their own funny-and-interesting to the project, but the way Braff lards the pathos with squishy folk-rock undermines his own attempts at honest communication. Read more.